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Podcasts

We're always talking about them in the chat, so let's talk about them a bit out here. My collection leans heavily toward comedy.

Affirmation Nation with Bob Ducca: An Earwolf production, this is a bite-sized, scripted, 2 minute series of meditations about health, therapy, and your bear.Comedy Bang Bang aka Comedy Death-Ray Radio aka Indie 103: How are you not listening to this? Home to That's How You Play Would You Rather. One of the best comedy podcasts around, and an unequaled one when it comes to improv.Doug Loves Movies: Where the Leonard Maltin game is played. You'll love it if you love movies.. or not.The Economist: Learn shit! Subscribe to the magazine, and listen to even more than the free podcast provides.Girl on Guy with Aisha Tyler: This is a brand new podcast. The first episode starts with a 15 minute intro, but if you wait/fast forward you'll get to laugh until you cry. I did.The Hedrush: Best old-school rap podcast around.How Did This Get Made: Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, and Jason Mantzoukas rip your least loved films to shreds in a most entertaining way. Oh wait, I just went and gave this show no justice. It's a great Podcast, with some of the best laugh density around. It really works for me.Mike Detective: Unlicensed and Uninsured Private Eye: A scripted series by Earwolf, and an unmissable one. So, don't miss it. Jesus, how many times do I have to tell you?The Pod F. Tompkast: By Paul Fucking Tompkins. From Mr Show and Being Fucking fame.Slate's: Hang Up and Listen, Culture Gabfest, Political Gabfest: The content is different, but the style is uniform; I enjoy Slate's offerings:The Sporkful (also GastroLab): A fun food podcast.Who Charted?:Howard Kramer is that dude.You Had to Be There: Funniest girls around, Nikkie Glaser and Sara Schaefer are hilarious, and always complemented by funny comedians and musical guests (both!)

I have a huge backlog of other Podcasts that I've downloaded, liked, but have not bothered to go through their archives yet. The Nerdist, WTF, Filmspotting, Never Not Funny, etc. You get the idea.

My Brother My Brother and Me - an advice podcast for the modern era, taking user-submitted questions (and random, terrible ones culled from Yahoo answers) and turning them alchemy-like into wisdomThe Sound of Young America - interviews with a succession of fairly interesting people.The Bugle - Two Brits take the week's news and crap all over it, but with wonderful accents

Did I miss This American Life being referenced, or am I really the first person to mention it?

This was originally mentioned by Celery/Green Eyed Monster in the chat thread that sparked this discussion.

Now, for me:

Skeptoid: Skeptical Analysis of Pop Phenomenon - Skeptoid, with Brian Dunning of skeptoid.com is a bite sized look at different things with a skeptical eye. It's entertaining in and of itself. Highly recommend.Reasonable Doubts - Dave Fletcher, Jeremy Beahan, The Doctor-Professor Luke Galan and recent addition Justin Sheeba present an atheistic podcast - it has a number of segments, God Thinks Like You (wherein the DrProf relates the latest in psychological research relating to religion), Skeptic's Sunday School (wherein Jeremy does counter-apologetics or biblical criticism), Stranger than Fiction (wherein Fletch presents the weird religious story of the week) and other such things which make it the best atheistic podcast that I have found. They view themselves as non-aggressive atheists (i.e. not aggressive as the News are typically described) but they also reject the accomodationist position.

If you like a lot of comedy shop talk, there's always WTF with Marc Maron. Easily one of the best comedy-related podcasts out there.

Edit: Which was apparently mentioned briefly but not linked to. I cannot stress how good this is, especially if you like comedy at any sort of depth beyond the occasional Comedy Central special you may sit and watch when you pass by it. And, having listened to many of the now-premium episodes before they went behind a paywall, I can safely say they're worth the money. The Robin Williams and two-part Carlos Mencia stuff are worth it by themselves.

Drunk Tank- First and foremost. I am a huge fan of Rooster Teeth and the guys are naturally funny. I love Griffon the most Some Other Castle - I believe etdragon posts here, but she is funny right along with her podcast mate Leah. I have the biggest smile while listening to them and their LISTENER MAIL!Smodcast - I am currently taking a break from it because I'm at the part where Smith is coming back from his depression over Zack and Miri and he got way too gross (even for me), but I plan to go back to it soon.Sidebar- Comics, Art, and Pop Culture - I love these guys! They talk about comics and especially the art of comics and they've done interviews with people I had never heard of but now look up to. If I ever make it in the comics industry, I really want to be interviewed by these guys.Hardcore History/Stuff You Miss in History Class - Two different podcasts, but I lumped them together because they both cover history. The first one updates infrequently, but the second one is always updated and they sound really excited about their topics.Grammar Girl - I want to get better with my grammar.

And I'm currently trying to find a female podcast on comics, but it's tough stuff because it seems they're all skyping with each other on bad mics. And I'm also, always trying to get a behind the scenes of comics podcast with the creators and their processes and stuff like that. I love to hear things like that.

Writing Excuses - Has been responsible for at least half of the improvement in my writing over the last year. Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn, Wheel of Time), Dan Wells (I Am Not A Serial Killer), and Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary) are great hosts and really know their stuff.

I think that he does a really good job interviewing his guests. Most of them are comedians, but he'll get other random celebrities on there as well. He actually made Pauly Shore into someone that I'd want to sit down and have a beer with. It's like a more blue collar version of the WTF podcast mentioned above.

Most of the ones I listen to have been referenced already, but http://startalkradio.net/ is Neil DeGrasse Tyson's podcast. The format took some getting used to (he interviews someone, then edits it down and talks about the interview with another guest in between clips from the interview itself), but he's generally on top of things.

He covers stuff from the science of superheroes to economy to the Daily Show (his Jon Stewart episode is pretty great), but one of my favorites is his two parter on NASA and Nichelle Nicols (original Lt Uhuru).

Seconding WTF, Nerdist, Adam Carolla, Hardcore History (seriously, his 6 parter on the fall of the Roman Republic is amazing - clocks in at about 10 hours too, so you'll have plenty to listen to), and the How Stuff Works family (Stuff you Missed, Stuff to Blow Your Mind, etc).

I'm partial to the Joe Rogan Experience. Subjects are varied, but weed, comedy, combat sports and aliens from space are often a component. I like the format of just having on interesting people and talking to them for two hours.

I will third The Bugle, especially if you love terrible, terrible puns or The Daily Show.

I also listen to:

Judge John Hodgman - John Hodgman settles largely meaningless disputes like "What is a den?"The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons - ESPN's main writer (fuck you, Rick Reilly) talks sports and/or pop culture with a variety of guests, some of whom are his buddies, some are ESPN colleagues, some athletes/comedians/writers/etc. Some of them can be skipped if you're uninterested (like when he was interviewing some WWE dude last week... lame).Pop Culture Happy Hour - four funny people talk about pop culture through the lens of people who work for NPR. Hosted by Linda Holmes, who used to work at TWoP back when it was good (she did Survivor/Amazing Race recaps, which I contend are the best things ever written on that site)... and speaking ofExtra Hot Great - two of the three founders of TWoP, Tara Ariano and David T. Cole, are joined by longtime editor Joe Reid to discuss pop culture stuff. Frequent features include: "The best thing I saw on TV this week" which is usually some completely absurdly plotted Lifetime movie or Little House on the Prairie episodes with Chimpanzee murder, "I Am Not a Crackpot" where you make some claim that some people might consider insane but you insist is not (example: when people have containers that should have liquids in them on TV and there is clearly no liquid, this is an abomination and must be stopped), "The Canon" where they consider submitted episodes of any show and determine whether or not they are essential to pop culture knowledge (for example, "Marge vs. the Monorail" is indeed canon worthy). And then "Game Time" which is some themed trivia contest between Ariano and Reid. The latest one was name the show with fictional business X, which was probably the easiest so far.

I like the Leonard Maltin game parts of Doug Loves Movies, but that's a very guest dependent podcast for me. I listen to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me as a podcast, but that doesn't entirely fit the topic here. Neil de Grasse Tyson's can be interesting (I actually think the Colbert one is the best I've listened to).

The rest of my podcasts lean heavily towards football (soccer)... The Footy Show (Canadian podcast), Football Weekly with James Richardson (Guardian), and World Football Phone-in (BBC 5Live)... I also have TheGame Podcast (The Times), but it most often infuriates me by its stupidity.

Eat Your Kimchi is a great Korea-based video podcast. I round out my collection of podcasts with The National: At Issue Panel (CBC) for my Canadian news fix.

Comedy Bang Bang takes some getting used to, once you realize it's pretty much the opposite of every other comedy podcast, in that it's trying to be as artificial and put-on as possible. The charm of most podcasts are that it feels a little more intimate, and you get the sense the people on them are sharing more than they would if it were a radio/tv situation. The most successful podcasts eschew all the zip-zap segmented radio bullshit and just present a half-hour/hourlong honest conversation about whatever. Bang Bang is absurdist artifice for over an hour, and it can be hit or miss depending on the improv skills of the guests, but when it hits, it often contains some of the funniest stuff on the internet.

Who Charted is a recent favorite of mine, almost solely due to Howard Kremer, one of the co-hosts. That guy is funny in an almost inexplicable way.

Still haven't tried Mike & Tom Eat Snacks, will probably give that one a shot today. I used to like Nerdist but I think that has a definite expiration date on it. The "Hostful" shows extended it a little, but at this point, I think I'd prefer a Matt Mira show to a full on Nerdist show anymore.

A lot of people talk about Doug Loves Movies, but I've found his frequent guest Graham Elwood has a better overall podcast with Comedy Film Nerds, co-hosted with Chris Mancini. They get good guests, and the discussion often leads to better riffing and insight than what you get on Doug's show.

Unless I missed it, I haven't seen anyone mention The Nerdist podcast yet and I have no idea why. It's got to be one of the top five geek podcasts out there. Chris Hardwick usually has some really good guests on, the best I remember was Billy West, the amazing voice actor with a pretty incredible life story.

I got tired of the smodcast network when Kevin Smith became a dedicated stoner, and a preachy one at that, and started promoting sex talk with Katie Morgan, and shilling the fleshlight.

I tried to get into Doug Loves Movies, but I've got the same problem there. The stoner effect. The Leonard Maltin game is really, really cool, but Doug really doesn't realize how horrible he sounds and how little sense he makes half the time. That's not a comment against potheads or anything, I mean do what you want to do, I just think it affects the show.

I use Zune but I suppose I could probably get iTunes to automagically handle it for me.

itunes actually does the best job in my opinion of taking care of podcasts, for being the lackluster program that it is. Most popular podcasts are going to zune as well these days so a lot of them might be there already.

In the interest of full disclosure, The Moth podcast presents some really good stories, but a couple of them have been so absolutely heartbreaking or moving that it has brought me to tears. It might be worth reading the description so that you don't get caught off-guard in public.

I got tired of the smodcast network when Kevin Smith became a dedicated stoner, and a preachy one at that, and started promoting sex talk with Katie Morgan, and shilling the fleshlight.

While I agree for the most part, The Highlands: A Peephole History is pretty good if you grew up in the 80's. He interviews family (and maybe a friend or two) to reminisce about his youth in New Jersey. Its pretty removed from his other smodcast stuff.

I hate iTunes so I'm late to the podcast party, but I'm pretty keen on the Yogpod. It's basically just two British dudes laughing at each other, talking about Tina Barrett, Warwick Davis, and jaffa cakes. They talk a lot of entertaining guff.

I just finished downloading the entirety of the Skeptoid podcasts on both my desktop and netbook, because that seems pretty good. I can't believe I'm only just finding out about that. Reasonable Doubts, Stuff You Miss In History Class, and Grammar Girl all seem right up my alley too, so I'm gonna check those out next.

Another pretty decent resource is the Podmass column over at Onion's A/V Club. A lot of podcast recommendations are iffy, because it's hard to get a sense of what you're in for via people saying "Well, here's what I like!" So far as I know, Podmass is the only place that is seriously reviewing podcasts & podcasters, giving details about individual shows, pulling quotes from the shows, and recommending previous programs so you can get a sense of whether a show is worth a one-time listen, or a subscription. The shows they cover are largely listener suggested, as well, and the comments section adds even more insight to the shows being discussed (A/V Club comments sections aren't very much like your typical comments cesspool)

I'd double for this, in addition to Fear The Boot, a very good pen and paper RPG podcast, it is platform agnostic and gives very good advice for GMs.

Out of curiosity, is there any ex-This Week in Tech / Twit.tv listeners? I used to be a very loyal listener until it seemed that apple fanboyism and libertarian politics started to get more and more airtime, as well as annoying copresenters like Jason Calacanis whom seemed to use the podcast to brag about their success and gossip more than presenting news.

I'll second the Adam Carolla Show. I grew up listening to him on Love Line and this is a good substitute for not having him on there anymore. I actually just saw him do the podcast live and it was hilarious. Adam's ability to talk about anything the moment it's brought up without crafting jokes is insanely awesome to see.

This Week With Larry Miller: One of the greatest character actors working today talks about his career, life, drinking, and anything and everything. Great sense of humor, extremely down to earth guy with a perspective on entertainment that doesn't often get heard.

Miscellaneous Old Time Radio Dramas that are free as podcasts. The Six Shooter (Jimmy Stewart), Gunsmoke, The Adventures of Phillip Marlowe, Have Gun, Will Travel, Escape!, Suspense!, Tales of the Texas Rangers, The Lives of Harry Lime, and The Shadow. Just great shows, excellent sound work, and good stories from the time before television.

Kevin Pollack's Chat Show: Fun video, but audio only available, podcast hosted by Kevin Pollack with sidekick Sam Levine (Freaks and Geeks) with tons of movie and TV stars talking about their work James Lipton style with some fun games thrown in.

KCRW's Unfictional: Smaller scale, more intimate This American Life and The Story. If you like those, this is great too.

And then previously mentioned: This American Life, Radiolab, The Moth, The Freakanomics Podcast.

I used to like Nerdist but I think that has a definite expiration date on it. The "Hostful" shows extended it a little, but at this point, I think I'd prefer a Matt Mira show to a full on Nerdist show anymore.

Adam and Joe.
Podcast version of their BBC 6 radio show, it's on a break right now while Joe promotes Attack the Block (which he directed and wrote) and writes some other stuff.
There's 30 or so episodes archived which should be more than enough to figure out if you like their kind of stupid.